logo design history

_Famous Brands Glossary

Adidas Logo Design & Identity

Adidas – a name that stands for competence in all sectors of sport all over the world. Adidas was founded by Adolf (Adi) Dassler, who started producing shoes in the 1920s with the help of his brother Rudolf Dassler who later formed rival shoe company PUMA AG. Adi Dassler’s aim was to provide every athlete with the best possible equipment. For this he followed three guiding principles: design the best shoe for the requirements of the sport, protect the athlete from injury, and make the product durable. Today, the Adidas brand product range extends from shoes, apparel and accessories for basketball, soccer, fitness and training to adventure, trail and golf. The company’s clothing and shoe logo designs typically feature three parallel stripes, and this same motif is incorporated into Adidas’s current official logo. For years the only symbol associated with Adidas was the trefoil (flower) logo design. The 3 leaves symbolize the Olympic spirit, linked to the three continental plates as well as the heritage and history of the brand. The “Trefoil” was adopted as the corporate logo design in 1972. In 1996, it was decided that the Trefoil corporate identity would only be used on heritage products. Examples of products featuring the Trefoil logo design include the Stan Smith, Rod Laver, A-15 Warm-Up, and Classic T-Shirt. In January 1996, the Three-Stripe brand mark became the worldwide Adidas corporate logo. This logo represents performance and the future of the Adidas branding identity. It has become synonymous with Adidas and its dedication to producing high-quality athletic products to help athletes perform better free logo download eps

Adobe Logo Design

Adobe’s triangular abstract A is widely known today. In December 1982, Adobe Systems was formed by Chuck Geschke and John Warnock who were trying to start up a new company. The two forty-something men were confident in the software language they developed and its natural applications. The programing language became known as PostScript and featured several innovations. Communications between printer and PC no longer needed a hotchpotch of specialized application protocols and drivers but one software language only. Also the language could describe both graphics and text on one page. Graphic designer Marva Warnock designed the company’s first identity. The stylization of the A is carried through all glyphs in a rather accomplished and aware way. The original logo also offers a glance of what the future logo would look like. The new stylized A logo sets an example of how a company extends and respects its own graphic history. free logo download eps

AEG logo design

This logo has changed significantly several times since its inception in 1913, when the tobacco company was first opened and operated by Richard Reynold. Reynold had previous experience in the industry as he had on a tobacco farm owned by his father in Virginia between 1874 and 1895. and smoker of tobacco, and owner of the business, Reynold transported between two local towns, one of which regularly hosted a roaming circus Bailey. Hence the Camel logo was born, from Reynolds’ love of the circus nearby town.free logo download eps

Alfa Romeo Corporate Brand Identity

This logo is the official branding of the Anonima Lombarda Fabbrica Automobili, which is designed to directly represent the family coat of arms of the Visconti, one of the most influential and respected families out of Milan. free logo download eps

Allianz Logo

This is the Logo of the largest European insurance company, Alliance 0, which has been in business since 1890. This company uses its logo as a coat of arms. In 1923 the logo was developed into a graphical representation of the coat of arms, and later it was further designed into three simple lines which represented the birds in the same way. free logo download eps

American Broadcasting Company

Paul Rand ‘s 1965 redesign of the trademark for the American Broadcasting Company reduced the information to its simple essence while achieving a memorable and unique image. The continuing legacy of the Bauhaus and Herbert Bayer’s universal alphabet informs this trademark, in which each letterform is reduced to its most elemental configuration.

Animal Planet: New Logo

The Animal Planet channel recently revised its logo in order to match their new programs that now carry wild themes. The Discovery-owned channel decided to eliminate the globe and the elephant, replacing them with the “animalistic boldness” of a new identity. The new logo made its debut on February 3, 2008 during the channel’s popular “Puppy Bowl”. The new “jungle-like” design uses three shades of green to create the channel’s name in different size fonts. A new tagline – “Same planet, different world” was added to reflect the changes. The intention of the makeover was to attract more adult viewers with television shows that emphasize animals’ feral nature – a theme that blends in with the Channel’s animal orientation. The network also talked about presenting animals peeking from the letters but this has not yet materialized. Many members of the logo design community were very disappointed and believed that the new design was a good intention gone wrong. The new identity was developed by London screen specialist Dunning Eley Jones with other UK-based companies – Lipsync, Duke and Milton Mordue. The consultancy’s task was to create a look that expressed the network’s values: playful, instinctive, emotional, immersive and entertaining. DEJ is also known for having created the identity of the new Military Channel.

Apollinaris corporate logo

A year after water was found in 1852 under one of the vineyards in Neuenahr Ahrweiler in the Ahrtal, and a Mineral Water Spring was uncovered, the company began to promote and sell the water under the brand of the name of Italian bishop Apollinaris (of Raveanna in Italy). When the business set up a subsidiary in England in 1892, the business operations then began to move with a primary focus to Great Britain, and hence, this is where the new logo was developed. This logo represents the company’s reputation and recognition for excellence and quality and in some senses acts as a quality seal.

Apple Logo Design

Based on its company name, they selected an apple as its main form of branding. Initially, the logo depicted a small apple shape sitting under a tree with Apple Computer Co set into the frame of the picture. It is this apple that has continued to be used. The first logo design was perceived to be a bit too complex and hard to view, so Regis McKenna worked on the logo some years later and added a “bite mark” to symbolize the concept of seduction of the customers and the marketplace in general. Next, the monochrome version was replaced with the rainbow-colored logo as a reference to the Biblical story of Adam and Eve in which the apple represents the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. It brings to mind that people must pursue their dreams. While this was not initially a deliberate goal, it did encourage business and consumers to consider the Apple brand for the first time and was successful in generating increased profits. free logo download eps

Audi Logo Design

It is believed that the use of the four rings logo is most likely to generate back to the date of Claus Detlof of Oertzen, who described the idea as being something related to Olympia and the Olympiad which fuses the coming together of groups. This is in line with the coming together of the four Audi companies – AUDI, DKW, Horch and Wanderer.

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Company logo articles

 

Total Design was established in 1963 by Friso Kramer, Ben Bos, Benno Wissing, Wim Crouwel and the Schwarz Brothers. This group of ambitious Dutch designers has set new benchmarks for product design, exhibition design, cultural design and identity design.The book written by Ben Bos presents the story of the studio’s golden period from 1963 to 1973 and it’s fundamental role in graphic design.

 

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Total Design was established in 1963 by Friso Kramer, Ben Bos, Benno Wissing, Wim Crouwel and the Schwarz Brothers. This group of ambitious Dutch designers has set new benchmarks for product design, exhibition design, cultural design and identity design.The book written by Ben Bos presents the story of the studio’s golden period from 1963 to 1973 and it’s fundamental role in graphic design.

 

Click to buy